Proud to be a Browncoat.
"May have been on the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong side." - Capt. Reynolds.
Posted on 08/08/2005 7:28:50 PM PDT by 68skylark
At its best, science fiction advocates liberty. While Star Trek lamentably supported a "Federation knows best" mentality, other works like Star Wars and Robert Heinlein's novels have promoted the dissolution of central rule and the triumph of the individual. For the science fiction writer, space means one thing: freedom. Like the Wild West where men made their own rules and property rights were enforced at the end of a landowner's shotgun, space has afforded the hope that one day man can move beyond the reach of any government's oppressive hand.
No recent T.V. series understands this better than Fox's Firefly, the tragically cancelled masterpiece spawned from the mind of Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. Firefly was critically acclaimed, but sadly mismanaged and was cancelled after only eleven episodes aired in 2002. But thanks to DVD sales, Firefly has maintained a steady popularity. It currently ranks at 49 among DVDs on Amazon.com after seventeen months since its release.
The story of the series follows a smuggling ship captained by Malcolm (Mal) Reynolds. Mal and his first mate Zoe fought in the great galactic civil war as Independents resisting the unification of all the planets under the rule of the great behemoth, the Anglo-Sino Alliance. Ultimately crushed by the boot of empire, Mal buys a spaceship that can give him the freedom the Alliance threatens to steal. He tells Zoe that with the ship, "[We] never have to be under the heel of nobody ever again. No matter how long the arm of the Alliance might get, we'll just get a little further." And one gets the feeling that, while Mal, Zoe, and the other independents lost the battle, they will never give up the war.
Naming his ship Serenity, Mal takes on a crew, which includes a pilot, a mechanic, a mercenary, a preacher, a prostitute, and a fugitive doctor and his sister. A diverse band whose crimes almost solely revolve around a desire for freedom, the crew of Serenity must endlessly dodge the ever-looming presence of the Alliance that threatens to close them down. The series' central theme seems to concern the ineptitude of strong central government and its tendency to oppress and stifle rather than free or secure. As Mal says, "That's what governments are for, [to] get in a man's way."
Through Mal and his crew Whedon asks us to consider: What does freedom mean when the nearest government agent could be millions of miles away? Like the nineteenth century American West, civilization on the outer rim of the "verse" depends not on bureaucracy, but on natural law and contracts.
Precisely because the centralized law is the very force that Serenity escapes, Mal must hold his ship afloat through a very rigorous sense of duty and loyalty; his crew is his life, and to defend them, he would do just about anything. Because of their basic human decency, Mal and his crew embody the responsible spirit of freedom. Here are some of Firefly's foundations for liberty, the foundations Mal upholds:
Trade should be uninhibited. Operating under the precepts of free trade, Mal is a principled smuggler; while the government places barriers on trade, Mal believes the smuggling he does is honest work. As he tells a prospective client who is apprehensive about dealing with supposedly dishonest smugglers, "Seems to me there's nothing dishonest about getting goods to people that need 'em." That philosophy extends to mud, medical supplies, and in one delightful episode, cattle.
The best protection is self-defense. Everyone in Whedon's universe is armed and ready to fight at the first sign of trouble; after all, if the government is too far away to protect you, or if it is itself the aggressor, someone must take up arms. Even the resident preacher will. As he says, while the Bible may be specific about killing, "It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps."
Prostitution is just another way to earn a living. Inara, the ship's prostitute, lends the band of smugglers "a certain respectability." Prostitutes, or companions as they are known in the story, are a highly organized, highly selective group of cultured and trained women. They are not forced into their work and carefully choose each of their clients out of a screened registry.
The government is not always benevolent. The fugitive doctor, Simon, and his sister River are running from the Alliance. River was the subject of a government experiment and Simon helped her escape when he discovered the danger she was in. It is unclear what the government was trying to accomplish with the teenage girl, but what is clear is that River is left damaged, violated, and afraid.
Contracts must be honored. On the outer rim of the Alliance, no government entity is accessible to uphold contracts or settle disputes. Even when dealing with clearly immoral and corrupt clients, Mal is sure to either provide the service he agreed to or return the money he was paid. Without such basic principle, the outer planets fall into lawlessness, and the Alliance might feel the need to step in and regulate; by honoring contracts, the outer rim stays free.
The ship Serenity may represent freedom, but those of us who seek it on television are out of luck for the time being. Thanks to poor scheduling, Firefly was canceled before the end of its first season, and while episodes can still be seen on DVD, no new revelations have emerged in the past three years regarding many of the story's mysteries.
But there is hope. On September 30th of this year, a full-length feature film entitled (what else?) Serenity will take up, once again, the story of Malcolm Reynolds and his crew. Set six months after the final episode, the movie picks up right where the last show left off, with Serenity still existing at the edge of the 'verse and evading the not-so-omnipresent Alliance. Like the best of science fiction, Joss Whedon's Firefly is a tale of freedom and self-reliance. Here's hoping Serenity carries on with those themes.
Sara T. Hinson is a freelance writer and is the assistant director of a fellowship program in Washington, D.C.
I just hope whatever vehicle is used to further the Firefly mythos doesn't get hijacked from the spirit of the original series.
I remember that conceited little pimple Harlan Ellison tried to remake Star Trek in City on the Edge of Forever. He wanted to make Bones a druggy or insane IIRC.
Then there was the Section 31 book that was an explicit attempt by the author to make the Star Trek universe homosexual-friendly.
If Firefly can stick to its original premises, who can tell how far it will go?
The one thing that gives me hope in the Whedon corner (in light of the goofy directions they took Buffy and Angel) is according to the DVD commentary everyone involved with Firefly knew they were doing great work while they were doing it, as opposed to the more common figuring it out in retrospect. You don't fix what ain't broke. And according to Shepard Book..."you don't 'fix' the Bible." Let's hope that goes for the show bible too.
Over 1400 reviews on Amazon (including mine) and it's 5 stars. BTW, I first heard of Firefly right here on FR. Fox did a miserable job marketing and scheduling this show. I hope they feel embarassed.
well placed sarcasm tags < Sarcasm > < /sarcasm > or other such indicators go a long way towards avoiding these sort of misunderstandings. We can't see your expressions or hear your voice so all the normal humor cues are missing. (I realize that you probably know this already but there's always the lurker who needs to be educated)
"Book" in the voice-over lead-in to the "Train" episode..
"...with a ship you can get work, with a gun you can keep your ship."
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Top sends
There have been a few screenings of Serenity so far. (sans the special effects, which weren't quite done yet.) While I've been avoiding spoilers for the film, if Book got offed in the film, it would have slipped by now. In fact so far, the only thing's that slipped is that River's big secret is that she's made of chocolate.
A. I've been religious avoiding spoiler reviews, as I always do for films I care at all about.
B. Don't you think it odd, though, that he doesn't even flash by on a trailer?
C. If River is really made of chocolate, my son and I will hunt you down and find you!
Dan
Fortunatley, Fox only wounded it. The movie Serenity hits theaters on Sept. 30, and the Sci-Fi channel's relentless plugging (to the point of running all of Firefly, including unaired episodes, as a lead-in to the movie release) seems to indicate to me that they may have interest in picking it up...
You mean like, "I'll be in my bunk"?
On a more serious topic, I vaguely recall an interview with Joss where he stated something to the effect that he only had two hours to play with in the movie, and with 8 people in the cast, some folks were going to get shortchanged in screen time. And it sounds like "some folks" translates to "Ron Glass". (I'll also note I have yet to even see one of the trailers, so I can't comment on that.)
As for the spoiler, you'll need to wait for me to kill someone else first.
Well, we'll know in about 53 days or something. I hope he's not too short -- loved Glass in Barney Miller, liked his character in this. And I want to find out what the heck his story is!
I liked the earlier interchange between Book and Inara. Mal's on a dangerous mission, Book wishes he could do more. From memory:
Inara: Well, you could pray for him.
Book: I don't think Mal would appreciate that.
Inara: You could not tell him. (Pause, then lower) I never do.
Dan
Proud to be a Browncoat.
"May have been on the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong side." - Capt. Reynolds.
It looks like you and I are in the minority then. I remember watching Firefly when it first came out and being unimpressed. I've been watching the reruns on Fridays and I still don't see the appeal of it.
Maybe one reason I have a problem with it is that the "good guys" go around stealing things and killing people. In the episode where they stole the vaccine from the train, Mal was threatened by a bad guy, so in response he kills the guy. To me it symbolizes the current "anything goes" society where people are encouraged to manufacture their own morality and nothing is every purely right or wrong.
Probably another reason it's not my cup of tea either is that I like a little Science with my Science Fiction, and in Firefly there's almost none to be had. They could easily substitute a stagecoach for the spaceship and continue the series without missing a beat.
But as you said, people should form opinions on their own.
Well, they're not "good guys", they're just less bad than the bad guys.
In the episode where they stole the vaccine from the train, Mal was threatened by a bad guy, so in response he kills the guy.
Don't tell me you actually prefer Greedo shooting first...
I'm not sure who Greedo is, but as I recall at the end of the episode, the bad guy was on his knees, unarmed, with his hands tied behind his back. He told Mal that he would hunt him and that some day Mal would meet his blad, or something like that. And Mal kicked him toward the ship's engine and he was sucked in. Of course it was humorous when the second bad guy became willing to comply after seeing what happened to the first bad guy, but it still kinda creeped me out.
Maybe I just yearn for my old-time Star Trek morality plays, where good always vanquishes evil and you can easily tell them apart.
Firefly fit the constraints of TV so well, I worry that it won't translate well. It is also very detailed and ongoing...not generally the flash that can be folded into two-hour movie and then left with nothing for a few years.
There's even a comment to that effect in the pilot, where Wash refers to the others as Travellers.
Yeah. Space: Above and Beyond mangled military stuff too, as I recall.
My favorite line there is where Jayne is rifling through Simon's stuff and making up mocking diary entries. It was the best day ever!
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